The Ravine

He kept walking for an entire day. There was nothing down here to protect him from the scorching sun that burned his head. His throat felt like he swallowed a desert and his feet felt like being stabbed by a dozen knives every step he took.

'In the end im still just trash..'

He looked down, and a long string of painful memories and hateful thoughts slowly formed in his mind. For as long as he could remember, he was just a nobody. After his mother was murdered by an angry Blessed, he lost the last person that ever cared about him and was thrown into the streets. After surviving for several years as a rat that stole, fought, and got brutally beaten every single day, by coincidence he managed to join the children chosen to bear the candidate mark.

Raph started laughing.

'I was a fool, blinded by little success.. I thought that the world was fair and a trash like me could finally have nice things after suffering for so long.. but in the end im always reminded of what i really am..'

The four years he spent training as a candidate went by in a flash. He was treated like an outcast by everyone, but at least he had food and roof over his head everyday. He quickly adapted to the harsh training and with the guidance of his mentor who brought him there rose to the top of his peers. In addition to excelling in the already exhausting candidate training, Kyras the cunning, his mentor and Blessed of the fifth rank of Water God, personally trained him every night until he passed out. He was expecting that Raph would graduate the candidate academy at the top and receive the largest blessing from the Water God. He had high hopes that Raph would quickly become a master and taught him the techniques of the lower ranks in advance. He couldn't use them without the God's blessing, but after the ceremony everything was supposed to go smoothly. Two months before his graduation, he met the most charming girl he had ever seen. She was a palace girl, who were at the bottom of the palace society, but still high-class compared to regular citizens. She was beautiful, smart, dressed modestly and her smile always caught him off guard. Just as the feelings of confidence, happiness and having what you want started developing in his heart, everything went to shit and he was welcomed by the cold, harsh truth Once again.

'Well, if nothing, atleast I still have you guys.. Fear, hate, anxiety, uselessness..'

He started madly laughing again. He was out here, in the middle of nowhere, without a soul caring for him. He had nothing and nobody to protect, use or live for. His spot as number one candidate was stolen, and the girl he liked was taken away. He failed at everything he ever did and was now an empty, useless shell. What would change in the world if he just disappeared? Nothing..

'If im already as good as dead, what can i lose? You can't do anything to a dead man..'

He laughed again and continued walking. He thought he could be someone he wasn't after experiencing joy, but deep down he was still just a sewer rat.

'My only dream..'

He didn't care about nice things, tasty food or pretty women. Sure, he liked them, but the only thing he ever truly wanted was to prove to the world that he could also become an admirable, exemplary, and free person that deserved love, happiness and respect.

'These bastards that keep telling me who i am.. What can they do to me? The only two things that could await me next to my dream are victory or death. Since i am already dead, failure can't push me down any further.'

The best thing he could realistically hope to do right now was to find the closest group of the Water bastards, pretend to be one of them and cause a big rift.

'One of the three large warcamps, the southeastern one was supposed to be somewhere in this area..'

He kept walking while organizing his thoughts.

***

On the third day of walking, after almost dying to a wild Bear that he somehow managed to chase away and sucking the moisture from a few leaves growing on the rocky bottom, he finally found a place where he could climb out. It wasn't as steep as the other walls, had a lot of footholds and a ledge in the middle where he rested for few hours before continuing the climb. When the night came again, he finally scratched himself Up from the ravine and onto solid ground. The sharp stones cut him everywhere and rendered his already torn robe almost unrecognizable. Under the blood, sand and dirt a few tridents stubbornly clung to the colored fabric. He took out the already decomposing piece of skin with Water God mark that had Been rotting in his pocket for a while now, and secured it to his wrist with a piece of string from his pants. The mark was still relatively intact, and covered his own candidate mark pretty well. He grabbed the knife and cut a small square on his left sleeve, just above the mark. This way, he could show the mark without taking the robe off. The fabric would hide the surrounding skin and the string and with a bit of imagination, the mark looked like it was really etched on his wrist. Of course, his little deceit would be blown as soon as he got undressed or if he was asked to display blessed abilities. But he chose not to worry about that for now. He could pretend that the little amount of blessing in his body was caused by hunger and dehydation while fighting for his life, and he Also wouldnt have to get undressed any time soon. He crawled to the wide nearby road and laid in the middle. Someone was bound to go through here soon. If he was lucky, it'd be blessed.